Long Standing Local Business Municipal Supply Co. Delivers for Customers

Wherever you see digging and pipe being laid across lower Michigan, there is a fair chance that the pipe being installed came from Municipal Supply Co. of Portland township.  The business, owned by Brian and Nancy Wohlscheid, services the underground contractors, farmers and local government agencies with anything related to utility work underground.  They sell pipe fittings, underground pipe and other supplies needed by municipalities especially in the public works department.  While the company is one with a long history in Portland, it is a bit of local history not widely known.

Municipal Supply was founded by Brian's parents, Howard and Verna Wohlscheid, in 1961.  At the time, the elder Mr. Wohlscheid was working as a salesman for a similar company, Michigan Supply. Repeatedly he was frustrated to make sales but then have those goods not be delivered in a timely manner.  That frustration with lackluster service led him to start his own business Municipal Supply with a focus on excellent service.  Howard and Verna owned the firm for about 30 years before selling it to their son Brian.

During their ownership the company moved from East Street in Portland, behind what is now B&W Auto Supply to its present location on Industrial Drive in the F&H Industrial Park in Portland Township.  The H in F&H in fact stands for Howard Wohlsheid who was one of the two founders of the Industrial Park.  At the time the company hand a small office and a stockyard. 

Brian began working at the family business soon after high school when he realized that college was not for him.  He started as a bookkeeper despite not knowing how to type at the time.  The young Wohlscheid definitely had the business hustle in him as he worked for the then new McDonalds in Portland as a manger while also working full time at Municipal Supply.  By that time he was working making deliveries and his lack of typing skills was no longer an issue.   

In the early years of their relationship, “before kids” as Nancy puts it, the couple would even go on a “date” driving to deliver pipe and other supplies across the state.  One memorable such supply delivery took them across the Mackinac bridge to St. Ignace.  That harrowing trip was to deliver a load of cast iron pipe which was transferred to a barge to go to Mackinac Island for use in a large project.  Nancy relates that the forklift operator proceeded to dump many of the pipes into the water which necessitated a crane and divers to retrieve.  Not all deliveries were that memorable, but the couple built their family as they continued to work in the business.

In 1992, the couple bought the business from Brian’s parents.  The business has now grown to three warehouses and a pipe stock yard on Industrial Drive.  They have three full time employees in the office and two part time drivers/warehouse workers.  As the business has grown they have seen numerous changes in the industrial park.  A screw manufacturer gave way to a plastic company which also went defunct.  Other neighbors have moved in recently including Miller LS Bridge Construction that has offices on Industrial Drive and recently bought land from the Wohlscheids to store equipment including the large cranes visible to drivers along Lyons Rd.  Down the road, Cook Brothers Construction is such a major customer that they are practically family, Nancy jokes. 

One thing that is not well known is that Municipal Supply also sells directly to individuals.  Any outdoor drainage, pipe, drainage, sump pumps and associated type projects a homeowner has likely can be supplied locally according to the Wohlscheids.  The company also hosts the monthly Portland Township recycling center in their parking lot.